I’m a Black Eyed Peas-at-New Years gal, and this year I searched around and could only find a tin. So a tin of peas it is, and a most wonderful salad that that feels lemony and green and bright. I know that these peas can take a LOT of flavour, and years of preparing them THIS way pushed me towards the fermented flavours and the bitter of the lemon zest. This is the salad I just made– I’m sure your variations will be delicious too.

Make sure to read this great piece by Michael Twitty musing historically on black eyed peas and greens…

A tin of black eyed peas (though advance preparation of finding dried peas would be cheaper and preferable)

half an onion, thinly sliced

a few ribs celery, thinly sliced

a handful of chopped fresh coriander (though dill would be nicer)

two pieces of preserved lemon from a jar (had I been organised, homemade of course would be better!), finely chopped . (Alternately, you could grate the zest of an organic lemon for that slightly bitter but bright flavour.)

a dressing of mustard and lemon and olive oil and sauerkraut brine with all its happy bacteria

Thanks for sharing the very interesting article. We enjoyed our black-eyed peas, greens and cornbread yesterday (our traditional Southern New Years Day meal). In our case we had purple hull pinkeyes and sauteed senposai, both grown here. So delicious and now I’m sure to have good luck all year.

When I was a boy I didn’t like black-eyed peas (which is what we called them, even though they were technically pink-eye purple hulls), but my mother would force me to eat at least one, to ward off the calamities that might otherwise occur. I was surprised to learn recently that our tradition isn’t just limited to the South.